


Bellamy's Pet Emporium

by justbecauseyoubelievesomething



Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [22]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Alternate Universe - Pet Store, Attraction, Awkward Flirting, Azgeda Clarke Griffin, F/M, First Meetings, Grounder AU, Manic Octavia, Mentions of Animal Mistreatment, Misunderstandings, So here we are, This is so ridiculous, but i kind of love it, canonverse, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26162830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbecauseyoubelievesomething/pseuds/justbecauseyoubelievesomething
Summary: She’s someone who gets things done behind shadows, quieting uprisings before they start, investigating rumors before they start. She’s the best of the best.And Lexa wants her to investigate a pet shop.A Bellarke one-shot for Writer's Month 2020. Prompt 22: pet shop AU.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Series: Writer's Month 2020 Prompts [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863823
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Bellamy's Pet Emporium

It’s a strange request. A sealed message is dropped off in the box hidden beneath the second step. Clarke reads it twice before she scoffs and tosses the paper in the fire, burning the message just as protocol calls for.

She’s a trained Azgedan spy, one of the best of Queen Nia’s elite. She’s a defector, a traitor to the Ice Nation and all it stands for, choosing instead to serve directly under the new Heda, Lexa kom Trikru. She’s someone who gets things done behind shadows, quieting uprisings before they start, investigating rumors before they start. She’s the best of the best. 

And Lexa wants her to investigate a pet shop.

Clarke scoffs again as she fetches her cloak and makes sure that the red streaks she usually wears for the commander’s court are washed from her blonde hair. A pet shop. Lexa must be bored.

Granted, there are sometimes problems with smuggling exotic animals in and out of Polis. Lexa usually lets the people do as they please as long as it’s not endangering one another or their alliances, but the previous summer the smuggling rings got out of hand, requiring Clarke and Indra to step in and deal with the problem personally. Lexa is obviously paranoid of a repeat problem.

Besides, far be it from her to question the will of her commander.

Clarke finds the new shop easily, a large house near the outskirts of the city. The old house itself is pretty run down, but the front door and steps show signs of recent repairs. The reason for the rather obscure location becomes immediately obvious as Clarke’s attention is drawn to the sound of bleating, barking, and other indiscernible animal noises coming from the large space of open ground behind the house. She skirts around the side of the building following the sounds and the pungent smell of animal waste until she comes upon the scene on the other side.

A large area is split off into several smaller fenced enclosures. The fence, like the front, looks new and fairly sturdy compared to the rest of the house. Chasing two baby goats and some sort of chicken between the fences is a teenaged girl, her long black hair swinging every which way and making her attempts to catch the pets much harder.

“Damn it!” she shrieks as she makes a running tackle towards one of the goats only for it to swerve nimbly away leaving her with her face in the dirt.

Clarke hides a chuckle behind her hand with a carefully disguised cough and the girl looks up.

“Oh! I have a customer!” The girl jumps up, showing no embarrassment over her situation. She doesn’t even brush the dirt from her shirt as she bounds over to Clarke.

“Thank you for visiting Bellamy’s Pet Emporium! I’m Octavia! Do you know what kind of pet you’re looking for?”

She talks a mile a minute and Clarke’s head spins. “Um… I’m not sure?”

Octavia’s grin grows even brighter, something Clarke hadn’t thought possible, and suddenly the girl seizes her arm and drags her over to the nearest fenced enclosure.

“Perfect! We have plenty to choose from! I can guide you around!”

Clarke stumbles to a stop next to the pen which holds an alarming amount of rabbits. Octavia leans precariously over the fence and grabs one unceremoniously, immediately plopping it in Clarke’s arms. The light brown rabbit starts squirming and Clarke finds herself instinctively adjusting her arms to cradle the little creature more securely. Apparently satisfied with her grip, the rabbit settles for nibbling at the frayed edge of her sleeve.

“Aww, he likes you!” Octavia squeals. “This one is Oliver and I’m sure you’re going to love him.”

“Well, wait a minute…”

“I can teach you exactly what you need to feed him and what sort of area he needs to run around in…”

“Octavia.”

The new voice is male. Deep. Sends a shiver down Clarke’s back.

She turns halfway towards the house to see the tall, dark haired man rounding the corner. Unlike Octavia, his eyes are grim, his face impassive.

“Bell! We have a customer! I think Oliver really likes her too…”

“O.” He cuts across Octavia’s chatter with the single, soft syllable. Clarke notes the way his gaze warms as he looks at the girl. “I think I need to talk to our… customer… for a moment.”

“Oh.” Octavia looks from him to Clarke and then shrugs and starts to prance off around the fences again. “That’s fine. I need to catch those goats anyways.”

“Wait, what about…” It’s too late. Octavia is already dancing away, calling out some ridiculous names as she runs after the grazing goats.

The man, Bell, steps closer to Clarke as she awkwardly pats Oliver.

“I uh… I guess I’m stuck with this one? Huh?” she tries to joke with him.

He grunts rather noncommittally and Clarke shifts her weight uncomfortably. It’s not often that anything can crack her stone cold demeanor, but the entire situation is off-putting. Give her an assassination over a pet shop any day of the week. 

“So…” Her voice trails off, but he doesn’t respond to the hint, seeming content to let her flounder under his cold stare. She clears her throat loudly and tries again. “So I take it you’re the Bellamy of Bellamy’s Pet Emporium?”

His eyebrows flick fractionally upward. “Is that what she’s calling it?”

“That’s what she told me, yes.”

He sighs, rubbing one hand across his freckled face. “She’s determined to drag me into this.”

Clarke shifts again. Oliver is exploring the seam near the crook of her elbow and she doesn’t want to lose her grip on him.

“So this is Octavia’s… business?”

Bellamy presses his lips together tightly and Clarke notices the way his jaw clenches sharply.

“I know who you are. You don’t have to try to spy on us.”

Clarke’s throat goes a little dry and she has to clear it twice this time.

“Pardon?”

He crosses his arms and she swears there’s a hint of a smirk toying at the edge of his lips.

“I know you’re with Heda. I’m not an idiot.”

Clarke licks her lips.

“Look…”

He holds up a hand and she finds herself shutting her mouth. He commands with more than a little authority and she finds it oddly alluring.

“I don’t care about what Heda told you. We’re not doing anything wrong. Octavia is passionate about finding these animals good homes. We rescued the bunch from a zoo back home and O’s dad lived in this place until he died a few months ago so she came up with this whole idea.” Bellamy waves his arm around to indicate the chaotic pet enclosures and Oliver’s ears perk up slightly as if he knows he’s being included.

Clarke wets her lips slightly again. “I’m… I’m sorry about her father. I didn’t intend…” She sighs, starting over. “I believe you.”

Bellamy cocks his head slightly and she can tell she’s taken him aback. “You… what?”

She strokes Oliver’s head, letting her hand dance gently over his sensitive ears and then along his curved spine. “Of course. Your story doesn’t seem suspicious. You’ve probably heard about the dramatic smuggling incidents here in the city last year. Heda is simply being extra cautious.”

Bellamy blinks at her a few times and now it’s her turn to smirk. “You don’t have a high opinion of Heda, do you?”

“I don’t why you’re asking that.”

“You obviously expected me to be some sort of evil minion, set on finding a reason to kill you.”

He swallows and her eyes are drawn to the sharp bob of his throat and she hates the way her heart is beating faster the longer she stands near him.

“I meant no offense,” he finally says. A note of sheepishness colors his words. “It’s been hard looking out for my sister. I just want to make sure she’s protected.”

“Your… sister?” Clarke is sure her jaw is gaping.

Bellamy looks startled, the tips of his ears going slightly red. “Yes… what… what did you think she was?”

Clarke stares down at Oliver and the way her fingers are combing through the soft fur, all too aware of the way her neck is flushing with embarrassment. “Never mind.”

Bellamy coughs a little and she can’t see his face while she’s looking down, but she sees the way he shifts his feet back and forth. “O’s right. That one seems to like you.”

Oliver obligingly nuzzles his head into Clarke’s arm, apparently intending to take a nap.

“Yeah… yeah I think he actually does.”

“I’m sure the commander will love him.”

Clarke looks up at that, eyebrows pinched in a question. “I’m not bringing him back for Lexa. He’s for me.”

Bellamy coughs again slightly and she realizes that his blush has only grown. “Oh well, I just meant… when you go back to the tower…”

His words trail away and Clarke muses over the way he looks like he’s swallowed a lemon. Suddenly it clicks in her head and she chokes back a laugh.

“Wait. Did you think that Heda and I…. are together?”

Something flashes in Bellamy’s eyes and she thinks that if it were possible for wishes to materialize he would have been swallowed up by the ground right in front of her.

“Aren’t you?” he asks clumsily.

“No!”

They stare at each other for a few seconds and then Clarke can’t hold back her laughter anymore. She dissolves into giggles, burying her face in Oliver’s fur to try to stifle them to no avail. As tears begin to run down her cheeks, Bellamy slowly starts to chuckle beside her and then they’re both sitting on the ground with a very sleepy, irritated rabbit between them, laughing until their sides hurt.

When Clarke can finally take a breath she swipes the tears from her cheeks and holds out her hand to Bellamy.

“Maybe we need to start over. Hi, I’m Clarke.”

Bellamy slowly peeks up at her over his own arms and she decides she likes him with laughter dancing in his eyes much better. He grabs her arm firmly in greeting.

“Hi, Clarke. I’m Bellamy. Nice to meet you.”


End file.
